Search form

Search form

The Supreme Court has weighed in on one of the pressing judicial quandaries of our time: Should Colonel Mustard still face justice if investigators are unable to identify whether his murder weapon was a candlestick, a wrench or a lead pipe? In a footnote to a recent opinion, Justice Samuel Alito noted that "the board game Clue ... does not provide sound legal guidance" and wrote that "in real life, the colonel would almost certainly not escape conviction" because of doubts over the precise murder weapon used.

Related Summaries

President Barack Obama will today unveil America's first-ever climate strategy, offering a three-pronged approach that will focus on slashing domestic emissions, leading new global climate talks and seeking to mitigate the domestic impact of a changing global climate. The centerpiece of the plan will be deadlines by which the Environmental Protection Agency must write and implement rules governing emissions from existing power plants. "These steps will ... move our economy towards cleaner, more efficient forms of energy that will cut our reliance on foreign oil," the White House said in a statement.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has struck down the core of the Voting Rights Act, arguing that Congress had shown insufficient grounds for subjecting voting practices in nine states to federal oversight. In a scathing dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned that the ruling risked allowing the "vile infection" of racist voting practices to take root once more. "Throwing out [the Voting Rights Act] when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet," she warned.

A graph plotting America's carbon-dioxide emissions shows that the recent recession sent emissions plunging to their lowest levels in well over a decade -- but also that the country is nowhere near meeting its obligations under the Copenhagen Accord. That helps to explain President Barack Obama's new climate push, although it's still unclear whether his proposed strategy will do enough to help the U.S. meet its emissions target.

A 5-4 Supreme Court ruling on Monday limits product liability claims against the makers of generic drugs. A state law allowing the claims does not take precedence over federal laws that require generics to be the same and carry the same labeling as prescription drugs, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. The ruling "poses a threat to the safety of prescription drugs, creating unnecessary risks to patients," Public Citizen's Health Research Group Director Dr. Michael Carome said.

The parties involved in the drug patent settlement case under consideration by the Supreme Court have not offered the justices a middle ground, and with Justice Samuel Alito's recusal, a split decision is possible, experts at a Politico Pro meeting said.